Goodfellow, Robin: Online Literacies and Learning: Operational, Cultural and Critical Dimensions. Language and Education 18.5 (2004): 379-399.

In “Online Literacies and Learning,” Robin Goodfellow argues that online environments provide immense ways of improving the social literacies of todays students and examines a manner of research which explores the variation in relationships between teacher and student both online and face to face. Using the three dimensional theory of Lankshear,Snyder and Green Goodfellow examines the potential of this method of social learning research in relation to potential pedagogy and uses this method to examines two situations where social learning has been practiced. Goodfellow demonstrates the advantages of social learning as it relates to her fellow teachers and puts forth methods of research that benefit this audience in comprehending the benefits of social learning. Goodfellow’s purpose in writing this article is to motivate peers to begin exploring social learning online and to incorporate the usage of this medium of education into their pedagogy.

Goodfellow’s study exemplifies the benefits of social learning in a strictly academic setting, and much of what she examines in her article pertains to non-academic settings as well. Her examination of the three dimensional study and links to other methodologies aids the researcher in understanding how these methods may be combined and used to examine any social network regardless of its discipline. For the work I am doing with wedding planning message boards, the theories that Goodfellow examines can easily be seen as a base method for engaging in research in this area.